This New Type of Camera can See Through the Human Body

Looking inside human bodies have come a long way in medical sciences. But in the upcoming future doctors may be able to see absolutely anything and everything going under our skin using just a mere piece of camera.

Scientists have invented this new version of the camera that can help you actually see through the structures inside the human anatomy. With the capacity to detect light sources behind as much as 20 centimetres (8 inches) of bodily tissue, this camera is a handheld X-Ray.

Developed by the researchers at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, the current prototype is designed to work in conjunction with endoscopes. To let you know, endoscopes are long instruments often equipped with cameras and lights to peer the images inside hollow cavities of the human body.

Endoscopes have been proved a significant tool for medical research and treatments, but till now an endoscopy has to be supported by X-ray scans to confirm exactly where in the body the instrument is looking. However, the invention of this camera nulls the problem.

The camera’s capacity to detect sources of light inside the body such as the illuminated tip of the endoscope’s long flexible tube will sort out all the problems. Warm thanks to thousand of integrated photon detectors inside the camera.

When photons come into contact with bodily structures, light usually scatters or bounces off the tissue, but the camera’s sensitivity enables it to pick up any tiny traces of light that make it through.

By reconciling light signals that come directly to the camera with scattered photons – which travel long distances and so take longer to reach it – the device can determine where exactly the light-emitting endoscope is placed inside the body.

This technique, which differentiates between scattered and ballistic (direct) photons is called ballistic imaging, and it could help physicians to understand the exact location of the bodily interior they’re looking at with the endoscope – which may be hugely valuable in terms of determining treatments.